PIRATES/REDS Under 9 -120 ? Cincinnati?s Elmer Dessens has been a nice story this season, as he is quietly pitching some of the best ball in the NL. In 13 starts this season, he has a remarkable ERA of 2.56 and an excellent WHIP of 1.27. He has now gone 5 straight starts without allowing more than 3 earned runs, and he has already tossed a gem at the Pirates this year, limiting them to 1 run and 4 hits in 7 innings on April 8. The key to this Under play however is Benson. He has been slow to recover from arm surgery, as he had a bloated 8.23 ERA and he was roughed up for 5 runs and 7 hits in 5 innings in his last start. However, he had thrown 100 pitches for the first time this year in his prior start, so a ?bounce? effort was just about inevitable. I feel that he will return to his form of 2 starts ago tonight, when he allowed just 2 runs in 5.2 innings vs. a tough St. Louis lineup. If he goes 6 effective innings tonight, he could then turn things over to a Pittsburgh bullpen that has a good group ERA of 3.68 and a good ratio of 1.38 this season.
